Two New Coffees = Great Espresso Blend

New Bolivian and Brazilian coffees on the way >> great espresso blend in the making!#p

Last Update: 2012-01-30 16:32:21

Here is the poop on two new coffees on the way. I expect these to make several different but excellent espresso blends

Bolivia Beneficio Buenaventura Lot 45Â

$7.25

$13.78

$31.54

$60.18

$111.65

This was a particular lot I liked in cupping Bolivia offerings from the coffee mill Buenavista, located in the Caranavi growing region of Bolivia. It is not a farm-specific coffee; It represents coffee cherry bought directly by the mill from local producers, and processed together without farm separation. They don't have the receiving tanks to separate fruit from each farm or local region in Caranavi they buy from ...and the farms would be too small to do this anyway. It happens to be the best thing I cupped from Bolivia this year! Beneficio Buenavista has produced some very nice qualities though, and have excellent processing of cherry by traditional fermentation method. This was designated Lot 45 of the season.

The light roast has a sweet caramel and buttery dry fragrance, with slight linden flower and peach scents. The wet aroma has toasted almond, peach blossom, cane syrup, while darker roasts have a more chocolate-toned character with dark fruit hints. This is a very delicate, clean cup which has great aromatics at City roast ... but I appreciate City+ to Full City for the balance of cup flavors. Linden flowers and peach grace the light roast, body is very light and delicate; these flavors come through with a little more roast on the cup, while a pleasant milk chocolate roast taste emerges. The cup really opens up as it cools, with a lemon tea bright accent and malic, apple-like flavors at City roast.

Brazil Cerrado Fazenda No-Name-OÂ

$5.75

$10.93

$25.01

$47.73

$88.55

Okay, there is no Fazenda No-Name-O, obviously. This standard non-estate lot of Cerrado was the best thing on the cupping table, beating out the dry-process Fazenda Aurea we often have. That's the benefit of blind cupping, selecting on cup quality and not on the name of the source. I found it to work really well as espresso base coffee, which is one thing we look to our Brazils to do. Not every good Brazil coffee comes with the pedigree of being a single farm lot, and sometimes when we say "single farm" in Brazil we are talking the equivalent of 20 or 30 farms in Central America! They can be massive. Anyway, we thought we would have fun and make up a name for a simple, functional, un-fancy coffee. If there really was a Fazenda No-Name-O I would be impressed though!

This is balanced and mild coffee. The dry fragrance in lighter roasts is distinctly nutty, malty, slightly fruited, whereas Full City is more chocolate-infused. Wet aromatics are similar, with a slightly minerally and savory note, and the muddled and indefinite quality that, while hard to describe exactly, hints at a softer, lower-grown coffee, as most all Brazils truly are. The cup has the right taste for this coffee; basic, very slight acidity, creamy body, roasted peanut and hazelnut, a little peanut skin drying quality in the aftertaste. There is a slight fruit note, banana skins and a touch of sweet tobacco. You need to pick through many lots to find a good one, and I think this qualifies as one of the best from the farm. It's a simple coffee, straightforward. But I felt this lot was clean, had great body, a clean flavor profile, uniform roast and cup character, and more sweetness than anything else on the table (including some fancier and much more expensive coffees). There you have it.